How to Have More Focused Hours in Your Day

How to Have More Focused Hours in Your Day

By Leo Babauta

I was talking to someone today and he said that with all the time he spends putzing(ˈpo͝ots,ˈpəts) around on the internet, he gets maybe 2 hours of focused time a day. I actually think that’s higher than average!

But if he does incredible(inˈkredəbəl) work in those 2 hours a day, think of the good he could do if he doubled or even tripled(ˈtripəl) that amount of focused time. His impact(ˈimˌpakt) on the world would multiply(ˈməltəplē,ˈməltəˌplī).

It might be interesting to audit(ˈôdət) your own time, and see how much of it is focused, meaningful work. Is that a good amount for you, or would you like to increase(inˈkrēs) your focused hours and impact on the world?

For me, what success I’ve had in increasing my focused time comes down to three habits:

Asking myself what meaningful, impactful work I can get done today.
Creating space for the meaningful work instead of just doing busywork or being distracted(dəˈstraktəd) all day.
Working in fullscreen mode and diving(ˈdīviNG) in.

Let’s look at each of these habits.

Deciding on Your Impactful Work

Most of us just dive into our inboxes, social media, favorite online sites, and busywork to start our day. We might have some bigger tasks on our lists, but they get lost in the woods of our day.

It’s an incredible habit to take even a few moments at the beginning of your day (or the end of the day before) to give some thought to where you’d like to concentrate(ˈkänsənˌtrāt) your attention. What is worth doing today? What is worth focusing on? What is worth spending the limited time you have in this life?

For me, the answer is whatever meaningful, impactful work I might have on my plate(plāt). If I don’t have any, then it’s time to go to an even higher level view and ask what I want to focus on this year or this quarter(ˈkwôrdər). What good can I do in this world?

Usually, it’s fairly(ˈfe(ə)rlē) obvious(ˈäbvēəs) — I know the bigger, more meaningful tasks I need to do. I make a list of 3-4 of them to try to accomplish for the day. Now I know how I’d like to spend my focused time.

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https://zenhabits.net/more-focused/